


Falling down like dominoes

by allofspace



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Office, Derek has glasses, M/M, Minor Allison Argent/Scott McCall, stiles is a computer nerd
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:07:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,076
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24382540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allofspace/pseuds/allofspace
Summary: Stiles has just started a new job, uprooting his life (new city, new apartment) to finally put his degree to good use. Aside from the hot brooding guy who refuses to smile at him, and his creepy cubicle-mate, the people are great, especially his new BFF Allison. Scott may or may not be taking their separation horribly.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 6
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter 1

Stiles settled into his new job quickly. He was excited to finally be putting his college degree to good use after years of working retail and applying to jobs and finding out those jobs paid practically nothing yet also wanted 5 years’ experience. He lucked out, finding a company willing to take a chance on him. He knew he just needed to get an interview, then he could amaze them. And then he did, of course, and was given a start date within the month. He proudly handed in his two weeks’ notice to his boss at Best Buy, who offered a half-hearted ‘good luck’.

After a month in the role, Stiles was still excited to wake up to his early alarm and get ready for the day. He loved reading on the bus and listening to music as he avoided rubbing shoulders with other commuters. He loved the walk from the bus stop to the office, even with the temperature gradually falling as autumn began in full force. 

This particular morning, he decided to indulge in a Starbucks beverage since he had been in a bit of a rush to get out the door and hadn’t had time to make his own coffee. It was expensive and sugary and piping hot, just as he liked it. 

When he got in, he purposely took the long way through the office to his desk so he could stop by Allison’s cubicle and say hello. 

“How was your weekend?” she asked him. 

“Pretty good. Lots of Netflix,” Stiles said laughing at himself. He was still getting used to having his own apartment and if he ever finished unpacking, he seriously needed to get a hobby. “You?”

“Yeah mine was good. Went hunting with my grandfather and my dad got me a new bow for no reason. So pretty great actually.”

Stiles laughed again. Allison was the first friend he made at work and probably the only person here he’d even call a friend so far. He was happy to have her. She was cool, as exemplified by her weekend stories, and she also understood Stiles’ humour and had a similar, if a little darker, edgy sarcasm. She quickly was able to tell him about people in the office, like who to be extra nice to for the good office supplies and that sort of thing. 

When he got to his cubicle, he booted up his computer, placed his notebook (see: doodle pad) and water bottle in the appropriate spots on his desk, and put his coat and bag away. He got a reminder on his phone about the meeting he had coming up. Who books these things for first thing in the morning? He sighed, remembering he needed to print off some documents. He brought them up on his computer and hit print, then headed to the room where the large industrial printer was housed. 

Stiles loved technology, but it didn’t always love him. Luckily, the printer was feeling friendly toward him today and printed all his documents without issue. He checked his watch as he finished stapling the packages together. With an arm full of papers he rushed back out into the hall and ran into a wall. Or rather a human built a little like a wall. The papers in Stiles’ arms went all over the floor, and he barely managed to stay standing. 

He hurried to start picking up the packages. “Oh god, I’m so sorry, I’m in a bit of a –“ Stiles started when he finally looked up. The guy standing before him wasn’t someone he’d seen before. He was tall with dark hair, a scruffy beard, and thick-rimmed glasses. He was wearing a blue sweater with yellow horizontal stripes that might look nerdy on anyone else. Stiles suddenly lost his ability to form coherent sentences, or even words for that matter.

“H-Hi,” he stuttered out. 

“Hi,” the guy said, eyebrows knit together like he was annoyed at Stiles. He bent down and grabbed the rest of the packages on the floor, adding them to the pile in Stiles’ arms. 

“Thanks,” Stiles said with a big smile. He was trying to think of a joke, something to charm the guy with, but he could practically see the spinning beach ball as his brain froze. The guy nodded at him, then continued on his path down the hallway. 

That was not how literally bumping into cute guys in a hallway was supposed to go. Romantic comedies were a lie and Stiles was suddenly very personally offended. 

Thankfully he didn’t have much time to overthink the interaction, as he was suddenly almost late for his meeting. He speed-walked through the hall, making sure to keep his head up this time to avoid running into anyone else. 

The meeting went by slowly, but his part of the presentation went smoothly, and the questions he got were easily handled. And for that he was thankful. When he got pack to his desk, he noticed his mostly full cup of coffee from this morning was now cold. He sighed. It wasn’t as good reheated, but it was better than nothing. 

He rounded the corner away from his cubicle and headed down the hall that led to the kitchen and lunch room, the door to which was closed as per usual. He reached toward the knob, but then the door swung open and he was suddenly falling toward the person who’d opened it. He caught his balance just in time, so thankfully his coffee didn’t fly out of his hands all over the other person. 

“Whew, that was close,” he said as he switched his focus from his coffee cup to the person he’d almost bumped into. Of course, it was the same guy from earlier. Just Stiles’ luck. The guy still looked mildly annoyed at Stiles for existing, but Stiles didn’t let his friendly smile fall away. 

Perhaps they were having some kind of moment, a staring war in this doorway as Stiles smiled at the guy, and the guy stared back at Stiles with annoyance. Awkward silence loomed not far in the distance. 

“Yeah, can I get by?” the guy asked. And Stiles realized he had basically trapped the guy in the doorway of the kitchen.

“Right, of course,” Stiles said, moving quickly out of the way and holding the door open. 

“Thanks,” the guy said gruffly. It didn’t sound sincere to Stiles, and usually Stiles would call someone out for that, but this guy was giving Stiles a serious complex. Was he not as funny and charming as he used to be? Stiles understood his personality could be a bit much sometimes, that not everyone totally got him, but he couldn’t think of anyone in his life who really hated him. There was one guy, Jackson, from his high school came close, but that’s just the way he was with everyone. And Stiles could always tell there was a little fondness underneath it all. But this guy didn’t even know Stiles. Didn’t even seem to want to get to know Stiles. 

Once the guy had turned the corner down the hall, Stiles finally went into the kitchen, releasing a heavy sigh. 

“Hey,” said Allison. She was filling a mug with coffee from the communal office pot. 

“Who is that guy?” Stiles asked. He put his coffee cup in the microwave and hoped he sounded non-chalant.

“Who? Derek?” Allison asked. 

“I don’t know. Is that who just left the kitchen? I’ve never seen him until today,” Stiles explained. 

“Yeah, that’s Derek. He’s been on vacation for the last two weeks. I guess a lot of people were on vacation when you started actually. Maybe I should take you around the office and introduce you to everyone who’s come back,” she suggested with an eyebrow raised. 

“No, thank you!” Stiles said. That sounded terribly awkward and mildly embarrassing. He’d just have to introduce himself as he noticed new people. “I’ll manage.”

“Ok,” Allison said with a shrug.

Stiles took his coffee out of the microwave, taking a sip of the too-hot liquid just to stop himself from asking a million questions about the guy. Derek. 

“I should get back to work,” he said abruptly and turned to leave. 

“Ok. See you at lunch?”

“Yup,” he called back. He opened the door cautiously as he exited to make sure he wouldn’t bump into anyone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> well, i can't believe i'm posting sterek fic in the year 2020 but here we are! This fic has been in the works for almost 2 years. Ever since I started at a new job and there was a guy named Derek. And a surprising amount of the unfortunate things that follow are taken from my real life. Will rate T for now and update if/when necessary. 
> 
> Thanks for reading! Would love to know your thoughts so far <33


	2. Chapter 2

Stiles felt a little unsettled as he tried to get back to work, but quickly forgot the encounter as he got lost in the numbers on his screen and answered client calls. Only as he laid in bed that night, did his brain start to replay the embarrassing scenes from earlier. He buried his head in his pillow and told himself that tomorrow was a new day and he could just pretend none of it ever happened. 

“You look rough,” Allison said in the morning. 

“Gee, thanks,” Stiles replied bitterly. 

His tone seemed to earn him a raised eyebrow. “Someone’s grumpy this morning.” She took a sip from a Starbucks cup. 

“Coffee. Need coffee,” he replied robotically. He’d gotten his 8 hours but he’d tossed and turned and woke up throughout the night, so he felt as though he’d gotten a solid two. He’d woken up late and didn’t have time to make a cup or stop at Starbucks.

“Well, it just so happens they messed up my order this morning,” Allison said. “You wouldn’t happen to want this one would you?” She pulled out the hand that Stiles hadn’t noticed was behind her back the whole time. 

“Oh my god. Are you an angel?” he asked, accepting the drink.

“A coffee angel?” she asked, amused. 

“Yes. The only kind of angel I care about it.” He hadn’t even thought to ask what the drink was. He took a large sip, letting the hot liquid energize him, without even tasting it. The aftertaste had a hint of caramel. He took another sip, savouring the taste this time. He wasn’t exactly a Starbucks connoisseur, mostly getting whatever popular season drink they were advertising. He liked this one though, it was sweet but still tasted more like coffee than the other ones loaded with whipped cream and other toppings. He might as well ask what it is and maybe he’d have a default to fall back on. 

“Caramel Macchiato,” Allison said. 

“Ok, stop reading my mind,” he said suspiciously.

She grinned at him and left with a wink to go to her desk. 

Stiles finally dropped his bag at his cubicle, and hung up his outerwear. He collapsed into his chair with a sigh, and put on his headset to listen to his voicemails. As he took another sip of his macchiato, he felt a little more at ease. 

Sometime after lunch he was headed to the printer and at the other end of the hall, saw Derek turn a corner and head towards him. He almost froze, but remembered what he told himself last night. Start fresh and pretend nothing happened. He held his head up high and as they got closer Stiles gave him his best polite smile and nod. Derek glanced at him and just kept walking, without even returning the acknowledgement. Stiles stopped and turned, mouth hanging open to watch Derek continue walking. Then he saw someone else walk past Derek, giving him a polite smile, and saw Derek nod in return. Stiles clenched his jaw and made his way to the printer, typing in his code with a little more force than necessary. 

Maybe Derek hadn’t noticed him? Well no, they most certainly made brief eye contact. Maybe Stiles’ smile had been too subtle, and well no, subtlety was just not something Stiles could ever be accused of. Stiles would think Derek is just awkward, except he clearly knew how to be polite to other people. Was it just Stiles then? One or two awkward run-ins and now Derek had just decided to hate Stiles? It seemed ridiculous, but Stiles was hard pressed to think of any other explanation. 

For the rest of the week, he paid a lot more attention to how Derek interacted with others. It turned out that Derek wasn’t in fact incapable of smiling at others. He’d seen it happen several times, and yet Stiles was determined to keep trying any time they passed in the hall, all to no avail. The guy just refused to acknowledge Stiles and by the end of the week, it was making Stiles a little crazy.

Stiles was starving when he and Allison finally had a chance to eat their lunch. He grabbed his Tupperware from the fridge and sat down beside her with a huff.

“What’s up with you?” Allison asked. 

Stiles considered telling Allison, but felt a little embarrassed. “Nothing,” he replied, chewing his lip.

“Okay,” she said like she knew he would break soon. 

She was right. 

“What is up with Derek? I really don’t think I’ve done that much wrong, but I feel like he hates me.” 

“What do you mean?” she asked, looking a little confused. 

He bit his lip a little harder, trying to hold back the flood gates, but it didn’t work. “Well I’ve only run into him a couple times, and I sort of mean that literally, and now I just think he hates me. I’ve seen him around more and try to be polite or whatever but he just ignores me. And I know I’ve seen him be nice to other people, so he’s not like, incapable, right?” He took a deep breath. 

“Really?” she asked, looking confused. “Derek’s nice. He can be a bit quiet and shy until you get to know him though.” She shrugged, which he didn’t really appreciate. It seemed like she didn’t really believe him. 

Stiles sighed. “I don’t know.” He thought back on their last few interactions and added, “I mean I get that I’m sometimes a little clumsy and annoying but he didn’t even give me a chance.”

She seemed to consider his words, but still mostly looked pretty confused and unbelieving. How well did she know Derek anyway? “I don’t know. He can be awkward sometimes,” she said placatingly. “But he is really nice. Maybe you just need a buffer for a conversation or two and he’ll get more comfortable with you. We should all go out for lunch!” she suddenly exclaimed. 

“No!” Stiles almost shrieked. “I shouldn’t have even brought it up. I’m sure you’re right and it’s nothing.” 

He really didn’t think forcing an awkward sit down lunch with Allison and Derek was going to make anything better. Well, maybe it would at least prove to Allison that Derek hated him if she tried to invite him. He’d probably say no, or even worse say yes and then ignore Stiles the whole time. Stiles crossed his arms on the table and laid his forehead down on them for a minute.

“Don’t be such a drama queen,” Allison teased. “Why does it bother you so much anyway?”

“What? I don’t know,” Stiles replied quickly, sitting up straight. “I’m not used to people not liking me.” This wasn’t exactly untrue. He actually had gotten used to be people not liking him, but he could usually wear them down until they found him fondly annoying. 

It was different with Derek so far though. Stiles so far hasn’t really had the chance to become annoying to Derek. They’d barely spoken! And when they had talked, Stiles had mostly been a stammering mess. 

Stiles was glad that his excuse seemed to appease Allison. She turned the conversation to something much less embarrassing for him and he was finally able to eat his lunch. 

Stiles returned to work, distractedly thinking about his conversation with Allison. He must be missing something. Maybe he was being self-centered to think it was even about him. He tried to think of it from Derek’s perspective and yeah Stiles hadn’t made the best first impression. So maybe he just needed to try harder for a good second impression. 

He had to at least give it one more shot. He would force a conversation with Derek and be his charming self that almost no one could possibly resist. For the rest of the day, every time he heard someone walk down the hall toward the kitchen, he leaned out of his cubicle to take a look at who it was. Needless to say, he wasn’t getting a lot of work done that afternoon. But eventually, Derek walked down the hall. 

Stiles took a deep breath and exhaled, then followed Derek to the kitchen. 

When he got inside, Derek was making a cup of coffee.

“Oh, hey,” Stiles said acting surprised to see him. 

Derek stood still then slowly looked up. Stiles had to try very hard to keep his words straight and not become a stammering mess under the intense gaze. “We haven’t really been formally introduced. It’s Derek, right?” 

“Yeah,” Derek replied, then looked back down at the coffee flowing into the cup. 

“I’m Stiles,” he said, reaching out a hand. 

Derek turned to look at Stiles and his outstretched hand. He pressed his lips together but shook the offered hand anyway. 

“Nice to officially meet you.” Stiles asked.

“Uh, yeah, you too,” Derek said, quickly taking his hand away and look back at his coffee cup. 

Great, Stiles, now what? His plan hadn’t gotten much further than this. Charm him, charm him, Stiles thought. 

“I’m the new analyst,” Stiles added, trying not to cringe at himself or maybe scream. 

“Oh,” Derek said, looking at him again quickly. Then noticing Stiles wasn’t going to let this conversation end, he added, “I’m in marketing.”

“Oh cool. Actually, my team has a project coming up that we’ll be working on closely with marketing. I think it’ll come up in next week’s meeting.”

“Oh, okay.” Derek walked to the fridge to get milk. He poured it into his coffee and stirred with a wooden stick. 

“So did you have a good vacation?” Stiles asked, trying desperately to just make this conversation last long enough to take the awkward edge off. If they could just get passed it, maybe everything would be fine after. 

“What?” Derek asked.

And shit, didn’t Allison say that? Had he gotten confused or remembered wrong?

“Allison said you took a vacation and that’s why you weren’t here when I started?”

“Oh. I took vacation days,” Derek said, pausing. “For a funeral.”

“Oh god,” Stiles’ mind raced trying to think of what to say. “I’m so sorry.” He wanted to kick himself. He was so busy freaking out, he almost missed the smallest hint of a smile across Derek’s face. 

“It’s fine. It was for my uncle who was kind of a dick, so no one was really upset.”

“Oh,” Stiles said, in total brain freeze now. He wasn’t sure how to come back from this one at all. “’Still, I’m sorry,” he added sincerely.

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Derek said, turning to leave with his coffee. 

Stiles scrunched his face as Derek left. That wasn’t quite the restart he was hoping for, but it wasn’t as big of a disaster as it could have been. Actually, why hadn’t that been a disaster? Derek really must have hated his uncle. Enough to momentarily forget he was supposed to hate Stiles apparently. Maybe Stiles had gotten through to him. Derek had actually used full sentences toward the end. At this rate, maybe he’d get a smile in a couple years. 

Stiles sighed. Well, it was something at least.


	3. Chapter 3

After what Stiles thought was a small victory with Derek, things didn’t improve at all. 

Derek continued to ignore Stiles in the hallway, even turning to avoid Stiles (if that wasn’t just his pessimistic imagination). Even when chance had them sharing an elevator, Derek managed to look busy on his phone, talking to another co-worker or answering Stiles’ questions with as few words as possible (which was often zero words and just sounds). 

So Stiles was already feeling down on himself when a call from Scott caused his phone to buzz and almost fall off the desk. Seeing Scott’s name only made Stiles feel worse, which then made him feel guilty. He still loved Scott, that kind of friendship doesn’t go away. But things were strained since Stiles moved and got this job. They’d never really had to try so hard at being friends before and Stiles was apparently very bad at it from afar. He swallowed the lump in his throat and answered the call. 

“Hey Scott,” he said in a hushed voice.

“Stiles! So what, you just move to the big city and forget about your old friends?”

Stiles rolled his eyes. “No, of course not. I’ve just been busy unpacking and stuff. It’s hard to find time to get back to Beacon Hills.”

Stiles got up and went out the door toward the lobby with the elevators. There was a bit of an alcove out there where some people took their more private personal calls.

“Yeah. No I get it buddy,” Scott said, but Stiles could hear the disappointment.

“I’ll come visit soon, alright?”

“Sure.”

Stiles hesitated, feeling like he kicked a puppy.

“Or... why don’t you come out here?” he asked.

He could practically see Scott perk up. “Really? That would be okay?”

“Duh, dumbass,” Stiles replied and suddenly felt a sense of comfort and normalcy wash over him that he hadn’t felt in far too long. “Actually, you should meet my new work friend.” 

“Already replacing me, huh?” Scott asked jokingly enough for Stiles not to worry too much, but he didn’t want to think about Scott sitting around feeling sorry for himself so he gave him a bit more. 

“Her name is Allison,” Stiles said slyly, waiting for Scott to clue in. 

“Oh cool,” Scott said blandly.

“And for some reason I think the two of you might actually hit it off.” He hadn’t given it much thought until now, but as he said it, he realized how true it was. It might be interesting to see if Scott could get Allison’s cool demeanour to crack a little. 

Finally cluing in, Scott reacted with excitement. “Oh! Cool cool cool.”

“Okay. I’ve gotta get back to work now. Talk later?”

“Right, except I actually have this interview today for a job. That’s sort of why I called… I need a pep talk!”

“No, absolutely not,” knowing exactly what Scott was after.

“Come on, Stiles. I have a big interview. Pump me up!”

Stiles groaned, leaning into the little alcove corner, then mumbled something into the phone.

“I can’t hear you, dude,” Scott said.

“I hate you,” Stiles replied.

“I know you can’t see me but I’m making the puppy dog face you can’t resist,” Scott said.

Stiles sighed. The things he would do for his best friend. “You’re the hot girl,” he said, dejectedly.

Scott laughed a little. “Again!” he demanded like an actual child.

“You’re the hot girl!” Stiles exclaimed and Scott broke into a cackle.

“Now you better go ace that interview! I have to go.” Stiles ended the call before Scott could bribe him to do anything else.

Stiles turned around to head back into the office and almost cursed out loud as he saw Derek, who had clearly just come from the elevators. He gave Stiles an odd look, then continued on his way back toward the door to the main office area. He had most definitely heard the end of that call and Stiles silently cursed Scott. That interview better be worth it!

Stiles’ traitorous feet moved quickly to catch up with Derek, even though he wasn’t sure what on earth he could even say.

“That wasn’t my girlfriend,” Stiles said, wanting to instantly kick himself.

“I didn’t ask, but okay,” Derek replied. Stiles noticed it was a lot of words though, which at this point was a win.

“Right, but that probably sounded weird. It was just my best friend, Scott,” Stiles explained.

That earned a raised eyebrow from Derek briefly, but no response.

“Yeah, that’s still weird. It’s just a thing we do. Started years ago.”

“Okay,” Derek said. He opened the door to the office and continued down the hall, turning out of view while Stiles stood in the doorway cringing inwardly. Then he moped all the way back to his cubicle, collapsing into his chair with a groan.

Stiles sat down at his desk and tried to focus on his work. But the only thing that could distract him from embarrassing himself in front of Derek, was Scott.

He did miss Scott, but it felt like his Beacon Hills life and his current life were so separate. Like mixing the two worlds would make everything crash around him. But just maybe this would bring some much needed balance. Maybe he’d been putting off unpacking so he had a good excuse not to have visitors so far. It still almost felt too good to be true. It’s not like this was his dream job but it had been such a relief to finally get even an interview. And he’d aced it and everything just fell into place so perfectly. Stiles took a deep breath and hoped he was just overthinking this whole “worlds colliding” thing.

Stiles threw himself into his work which was always a great distraction from nagging thoughts. He got so into the zone he probably would have forgotten to take lunch altogether, but thankfully Allison came by to snap him out of it and drag him to the lunch room. 

He actually felt pretty good, digging into his cold leftover noodles from the night before, having been fairly productive with work earlier. 

“Oh yeah, I was going to ask you if you wanted to hang out this weekend. My friend -” Stiles started when the door to the room opened and Derek walked in. 

Stiles stopped talking and watched as Derek went to grab a mug and fill it up with coffee. He was wearing a burgundy v-neck sweater with a button up shirt underneath that he hadn’t been able to fully appreciate earlier. It was honestly ridiculous that such basic clothing could look so good on him. His broad shoulders and toned arms made the fabric cling to his body perfectly.

Allison didn’t seem to notice or care what had distracted him. “Earth to Stiles. What were you saying?” she asked, taking another bite of her sandwich. 

“Oh, right. Scott. Scott’s visiting,” Stiles managed to say, feeling embarrassed even bringing up Scott within earshot of Derek now. 

“Who’s Scott?” Allison asked. 

Stiles opened his mouth to respond, realizing now he’d gotten sidetracked during his explanation. 

“Not his girlfriend,” Derek replied from across the room, casually. 

Allison laughed. “What?”

Derek shrugged, with a tiny smile on his lips that practically made Stiles’ heart stop in his chest. “Ask him.”

Stiles again just stared after Derek as he put away the cream container and left the room with his mug. 

Allison looked mildly entertained and confused as sheed back toward Stiles. “Explain please,” she said lightly. 

“Wow, that was weird.” Stiles tried not to let his voice betray the current chaotic state of his insides. 

“What was?”

“He just made a joke,” Stiles said. 

“He does that,” Allison said, looking at Stiles like he was going a little crazy. “Not often, I’ll admit..”

“No, but a joke about a thing with me.”

“You’ve lost me,” Allison said, narrowing her eyes. 

“I just still get the feeling he hates me. And I know that didn’t seem like it, but that’s why it’s really weird. He’s still just been ignoring me and barely acknowledging me and definitely not smiling at me. But maybe I’m making progress,” Stiles said thoughtfully.

“Progress?” Allison slyly asked with a quirked eyebrow. Stiles worried that she might be onto him. He tried to brush it off. 

“I mean I just feel like he hates me and there’s no good reason, and I don’t love being hated by anyone so I’m just hoping I can maybe become tolerable to him at least. And just maybe it’s working. Somehow.” 

“You’re obsessed,” Allison laughed. 

“I’m not!”

“Thou doth protest too much,” Allison said teasingly. 

Stiles just sighed, writing this whole conversation off as a lost cause. The best he could do was try to distract her with a subject change. 

“So anyway, my friend Scott from Beacon Hills. He’s my best friend since, like, forever. He’s coming to visit and I was hoping you’d get to meet him.”

Allison narrowed her eyes again, and glared at Stiles suspiciously. “Yeah… I could be free,” she said nonchalantly. 

“Oh,” Stiles added. “And you’re… single right?” Then he grinned. 

Allison’s cheeks actually reddened a little. Then she rolled her eyes to try and brush it off, and it felt good for Stiles to be on the teasing side for once. “He better not be totally lame.”

“That I can’t promise,” Stiles said laughing and they settled back into much safer conversation territory, hoping the topic of his obsession with Derek would not be a recurring one. 

Toward the end of the day, Stiles was itching to get out of the office. It had been a long day, but he only had to finish off this one task before he could leave. And he was stuck. Luckily, Allison was actually just the person he needed to talk to. 

He took off his headset and went over to Allison’s cubicle. He knocked on the metal corner to announce his presence and she spun around in her chair and looked about as done with this day as him.

“To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked, clearly trying hard to be pleasant.

“Just had a question about the Trygg account,” he started, sliding further into her cubicle. He sat on a portion of her large L-shaped desk, shoulder pressed against the cubicle wall. Allison was diagonal from him, at the other end of the desk.

“Oh yeah, give me a second,” she turned to search through a drawer in her desk, pulling out a physical file folder. “Here you go, this should have what you need to get started.”

Stiles looked through the file quickly and was about to thank Allison when he looked up and she was looking elsewhere. Through the cubicle opening at someone hidden from him in his corner of her cubicle.

“Hey,” she said with a polite smile.

“Hey, how’s it –“ Derek said as he reached the cubicle opening. He had a big smile on, one Stiles had never seen before let alone been on the receiving end of. As he got to the opening, he must have finally seen Stiles in his peripherals. Derek looked toward Stiles and his smile instantly fell away. It felt like a punch in Stiles’ gut.

“Hey,” Stiles said, surprising even himself that he was able to get a word out. His throat felt constricted. 

Derek just nodded at Stiles, lips pressed together. Then turned to Allison, “Sorry just noticed the time,” he said with a polite smile. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.” And with that, he was gone.

Allison stared at the opening where Derek had just stood, then slowly turned to Stiles. He hadn’t seen her looked shocked before, but it was written all over her face now. “Ok, maybe you’re not crazy,” she said.

“I told you!” Stiles hissed softly.

“What did you do to him?” Allison whispered back accusingly.

“Nothing!” Stiles said, exasperated. He snatched the file from Allison’s hands as he hopped off her desk.

“We’ll talk later!” Allison said, still whisper-yelling.

Stiles’ back was already to her as he threw a hand up in the air in a non-committal wave.

He went back to his desk and tried to work, but he couldn’t stop thinking about Derek. It was like he went one step forward and two steps back. What had changed between Derek joking about Scott in the lunchroom and then being ice cold only a couple hours later? Stiles had never been so frustrated by another person in his life, except for maybe his dad with his suicidal hankering for double cheeseburgers. Derek was like an unsolvable puzzle and Stiles had no idea what to do next. He just hoped to avoid talking to Allison further about it. He didn’t need or want her intervention. It would only make things worse and every time they talked about Derek, Stiles worried Allison would see right through him and know about the ridiculously stupid, painful crush he was harbouring. It was all just a little too pathetic for Stiles to handle. 

He at least hoped this weekend she would be too distracted by Scott. Stiles sighed heavily. Having visitors meant he’d need to actually clean and organize his tiny apartment, and he cursed Scott again before packing up his things and heading out of the office.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! Would love to know your thoughts so far xD


	4. Chapter 4

Stiles started off his week regretting all his life’s decisions that had gotten him to this point. Scott was on the phone waxing poetic about Allison while Stiles hummed and uh-huh’d at the appropriate times with less enthusiasm than Scott likely wanted.

Sure, he thought the two of them would get along, maybe hit it off, but not fall head over heels, Disney-style in love. Stiles was self-aware enough to admit that it was at least in part a bit of jealousy. How could it be so easy for them? To just meet their person and instantly connect? That was supposed to be for rom-com movies only, and seeing it could happen in real life was frankly a little depressing when Stiles thought about it too hard. But that was only one part. Another part of him was truly annoyed at just how sappy they became so quickly. It was frankly just ridiculous and Stiles felt completely justified in his teasing them about it. 

“Ew, stop, please Scott. She’s my friend. And I work with her. And I’m at work right now, so I have to go,” Stiles said, hanging up without pausing to let Scott say anything. He probably would’ve just asked Stiles to say hi to Allison for him. 

Stiles had only just collapsed at his desk when his phone rang again. This time it was his dad’s caller ID. 

“Hey dad,” Stiles answered, trying to sound cheerful.

His dad did not sound happy on the other end of the phone. “Stiles,” he said calmly. However the undercurrent of his tone made him gulp, and Stiles suddenly remembered the elaborate lesson/prank he’d orchestrated for his father. 

“My office is currently full of boxes of Pepto-Bismol and a giant plastic kiddie pool, and I can only assume this is your doing,”

“Uh, you know, in a way, I think maybe you would be in part to blame,” Stiles said, feeling like a kid again after doing one idiotic thing or another.

“Oh, do tell me how that would be the case?”

“I mean I did tell you that you’d need a swimming pool of Pepto after those onion rings,” Stiles said.

His dad sighed heavily.

“And I know you had heartburn after, so I figured… pool and Pepto,” Stiles said. It was unfortunate his dad couldn’t see his puppy dog eyes. It had all made sense at the time. 

His dad actually laughed a little at that, which surprised Stiles, but made his shoulders relax. “How much Pepto is this exactly?”

“Uh…” he did a quick calculation in his head. “96 bottles?”

Stiles heard a choking noise and some coughing through one of his cubicle walls but decided to ignore it as his dad was laughing even more. 

“I would be more upset if that didn’t mean you spent all your pay cheque savings on this little prank,” his dad said.

Stiles grimaced a little. That was unfortunately true. It was by far his most expensive prank, with very little payoff as he wasn’t there to even see his dad’s face. The image in his head of him having to climb over boxes of Pepto to get to his desk was close though. 

“No more pranks at the office. This is a police station you know,” his dad said more firmly. 

“Yes, sir,” Stiles saluted even though his dad couldn’t see. 

“Now get to work. Love you.” His dad had certainly become a little more mushy since Stiles moved out. He’d even cried a little when Stiles had moved into his new place. 

“Love you too, dad,” he grumbled softly. “Don’t start an illegal Pepto-selling ring,” he added before he quickly hung up. 

He laughed a little to himself as he turned to his computer screen and got to work. 

About an hour into his day, Stiles was already frustrated. He was staring at an excel sheet full of numbers and even though he kept checking his formulas, nothing seemed to be working. He carefully read through the formula gain, double checking all the pieces, but when he hit enter, an error message filled the cell instead. 

“Oh come on,” he said, hitting the enter key harder as if that was going to do anything. “Ughhhh.” He crossed his arms and let his forehead fall to the desk.

Allison suddenly appeared at his cubicle. “Woah, what’s going on?”

“Nothing good,” he replied, pushing away from his desk and spinning his chair around.

“Anything I can help with?” she offered. He smiled and was once again glad she worked here, or he might have already gone crazy.

“No, not unless you’re some kind of Excel whisperer,” he said, rubbing his hand on his face.

“Hey Stiles,” said a voice coming from the cubicle beside his. Cubicles were obviously far from sound-proof, but only a few people in the office took advantage of that by having whole conversations by yelling over the walls. Mostly just the eccentric older women in the office talking about their kids or Prince Harry or something. Stiles usually put on his headphones when that started. Matt, the guy in the cubicle to his right, was also one of those people.

“Yes, Matt?” he said, rolling his eyes at Allison as she tried not to laugh.

“I’m pretty good with excel if you need help,” Matt offered.

Matt had seemed fine at first, but Stiles quickly regretted being nice because now the guy wouldn’t leave him alone. And he sort of gave Stiles the heebie-jeebies. He was always making comments that weren’t inherently weird, but made Stiles feel unsettled.

“That’s okay, man. I have a few things I can try first,” Stiles replied. Hell, turning the computer on and off again might do the trick. He hated the idea that everyone around them could also hear this conversation. 

“Hey Derek, aren’t you good with computers?” Matt asked. Stiles froze like a deer in headlights, staring at the cubicle wall that hid Matt. Then looked at Allison, sustaining his horrified expression. She practically doubled over with silent laughter, putting a hand to her mouth to stop her laughter from escaping.

“I’m alright,” Derek’s voice said with a sigh. Stiles spun to stare at the adjacent cubicle wall. The wall which was also part of a cubicle along the opposite side of the long row of cubicles. The wall that he’d known he shared with someone, but he never really needed to walk down the aisle on the other side. The wall that apparently he shared with Derek. 

“I’m good with computers!” Stiles exclaimed, then winced at his own panicked voice. “I mean, it’s all good, really. Thank you.”

“Ok buddy. Let me know if you need help!” Matt said. Stiles wanted to die.

“Well then,” Allison said. “I see you’re all good here. Let’s go out for lunch today, okay?”

“Uh huh,” Stiles replied out loud, but then he mouthed the words ‘I’m going to kill you’ to Allison. She just widened her smile and went back to her desk.

Stiles couldn’t help but stare at the cubicle wall that held his calendar, past which Derek was sitting. He thought of all the weird frustrated sounds he’d made today as he struggled with the formulas that were sabotaging him and felt even more embarrassed.

His mind started running through all of the embarrassing things he’d done at his desk like singing along to music accidentally, mumbling to himself after particularly annoying phone calls, talking to his computer more than he’d ever want to admit and then his mind landed on this morning’s phone conversation. And the strangled sound of what was perhaps Derek choking on his morning coffee after hearing Stiles purchased 96 bottles of Pepto Bismol and a kiddie pool. 

Stiles thumped his forehead onto his desk. Oh great, he thought, Derek probably heard that too. Derek would probably hear every embarrassing sound he made forever. Awesome. Stiles wondered if he could blame the universe for constantly throwing them together. No, not together, the universe was throwing Stiles in front of oncoming traffic and Derek was the freight truck barrelling towards him. 

After this discovery, Stiles became overly self-conscious of every sound he made in his cubicle, trying to stop himself from doing or saying anything embarrassing just in case Derek might be within earshot, and wondering what Derek would think of every weird noise he heard. It was frankly a little exhausting. It was even starting to affect his job as he’d become more self-conscious on the phone, knowing Derek could hear him. Stiles found himself being less enthusiastic and trying to sound overly professional, which was likely just coming off as cold. Stiles tried to do some breathing exercise to calm down and not worry about it so much, but wondered if Derek could hear that too. He shook his head and as he left for the weekend, made the decision that on Monday he would come back and be normal.

The universe sent him perfect fall weather the next week, almost like an apology. It was a little cool outside, the leaves were turning colours, he had his new favourite starbucks drink in hand (a caramel macchiato thanks to Allison), and he had his favourite scarf wrapped around his neck. Autumn was in full force as he took a deep breath of the sweet air.

As Stiles arrived at the office, he instantly knew he’d been mistaken about the universe cutting him slack. He deeply regretted his previous exclamations of love for the cooling weather. The office was noticeably frigid and he put his bag down in his cubicle then went to find Allison. 

“What the hell? It’s freezing in here,” he said. 

“Yeah, there’s something wrong with the building’s furnace apparently,” she said with a frustrated eye roll. “Management is getting us some space heaters, but you better start bringing a blanket to work for now.”

Stiles groaned. He loved fall but he hated the cold, especially when indoors and sitting at a desk for most of the day. It took about an hour for the management team to finally hand out the space heaters, presumably because they had to go out and buy so many. Stiles took his happily, and hurried to plug it in and turn it up to the max heat. A couple minutes later, just when he thought the whole situation might not be the end of the world, the heater shut off, and so did his computer. 

“Oh no,” Stiles said, pausing all movement. He squeezed his eyes shut hoping it was just some weird glitch and someone would flip a switch and it would all come back on. Alas, when his eyes opened, he only saw his horrified reflection in the black computer screen. Forgetting the work that he hadn’t saved recently, he was more concerned about becoming an ice block in his seat. 

He got up, wondering who to even ask about this, and started wandering the office. There was the receptionist maybe? At least she’d probably be able to tell him who to talk to. 

As he was making his way to reception, he saw Derek talking to a red-haired woman in what Stiles could only think to describe as a power suit. He saw skinny heels jutting out of the bottom of the wide pant legs. 

Stiles had mostly given up trying to interact with Derek, as it had mostly ended in disaster, and he especially wasn’t ready to deal with embarrassment today with his freezing extremities. So he kept his eyes forward as he walked by them. However, he couldn’t help but overhear Derek tell the woman that the power went out at his desk. Stiles stopped in his tracks and turned back around. 

“Sorry, couldn’t help but hear about your problem. My power went out too,” Stiles said. 

Derek looked back at him blankly, then back to the red-haired woman. 

“Oh, I see. Are your cubicles near each other?” she asked.

Stiles could unfortunately see where this was going. “We share a wall,” Stiles answered with a nod. 

“It seems like you probably share a breaker then,” the woman said. And that’s exactly what Stiles was afraid of. “It must have been overloaded with both heaters being on along with everything else. It’s happened with a few other people as well. Unfortunately that means you’ll just have to take turns having the heater on. I’ll get the breaker reset.”

“Cool. Great. No problem,” Stiles replied.

“I don’t think we’ve met, by the way,” the woman said, hand outstretched to Stiles. “I’m the office manager, Lydia.”

“Stiles,” he replied, taking her hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“Sorry it’s not under better circumstances,” she shrugged and then left.

For a moment, Derek and Stiles both just stood there not looking at each other. Then Derek abruptly turned to leave.

“Hey wait,” Stiles called after him. 

Derek stopped and looked at him with an eyebrow raised. 

“Uh, is it okay if I use the heater first? I’m freezing,” Stiles explained. 

“Yeah, sure,” Derek said quickly and went back to his desk. 

Stiles sighed and headed back to his desk. He tried to focus on work, let these more solvable problems take over his brain. And tried very hard not to stare at the cubicle wall. 

Stiles was heading out of the bathroom just before lunch. As he pulled the handle toward him, it moved with too much force, and in fact there was a body pushing through from the other side and directly into him. 

“Sorry,” Stiles said instinctively. When he backed up a step, he realized Derek was standing there. How was it possible to run into someone this much? Didn’t anyone else work here!?

“It’s fine,” Derek said quickly. Their eyes met briefly before Derek darted his away. 

“Do you want to turn your heater on?” Stiles asked, realizing he’d been hogging the heat and Derek must be freezing. On the other hand, how hard could it really be for the guy to just ask him for a turn?

“No, it’s fine,” Derek said, awkwardly shuffling past Stiles in the small corridor that led to the bathroom stalls and turning to leave.

“Are you sure? It’s freezing in there,” Stiles said trying to come across as friendly as possible. 

“Really, it’s okay. I run hot,” Derek said turning back momentarily before trying to leave. 

Stiles didn’t get why he seemed so eager to escape the conversation, he was just trying to be nice. 

“Okay, well just let me know if you want to turn yours on whenever,” Stiles offered.

“I’ll be fine,” Derek said as he pushed his glasses up his nose. And that simple action shouldn’t have made his stomach do flips the way it did, but it made Derek look so soft in that moment. Stiles melted a little, trying not to let his smile show through on his face too much. 

Maybe he didn’t hide it so well as Derek coughed uncomfortably. “Uh, I better go. I have… work.” And then he left. Stiles let out a breath and let his shoulder fall against the wall. Why did these interactions have to be so exhausting? Why couldn’t Stiles just act normal around Derek? Okay, well he knew why, but Stiles wished he could just get over this stupid crush. It had been long enough, and Derek clearly wasn’t warming up to him any further. It was hopeless. 

Stiles hoped he could make it the rest of the day without literally running into Derek. Maybe one of them could wear a bell so it would be a bit easier. But a little later Stiles got a calendar reminder for the meeting he had coming up. The meeting between his department and the Marketing department, AKA Derek’s department. Stiles sighed as he started compiling the notes and documents he’d need for the meeting.

Stiles spent most of the meeting listening idly and doodling, trying vehemently not to look at Derek across the room. 

“Any other ideas? Remember we’re blue-skying here,” Brenda, Stiles supervisor was saying. “Stiles, any ideas? I know you’re still fresh, but nothing is off the table here.”

Stiles was surprised as most of the heads turned towards him. The creative part was supposed to be marketing’s job. He was supposed to just run the numbers, help provide content and context, and get the website and app up and running. He looked down at his notebook, at the doodles he hadn’t even realized had been about work. 

“Graffiti,” Stiles said.

He mostly received confusion but Brenda looked intrigued and nodded. “Keep going,” she said as she wrote it down on the big white board. So Stiles launched into an explanation, thinking as he went, and gaining momentum. By the end of it, many serious faces now had smiles on them, but Derek’s wasn’t one of them. He was looking steadfast at his own notebook. 

“Well, I think we’ve landed somewhere,” Brenda smiled proudly. “You take lead on this from our end Stiles. Janet, who from marketing are you putting on this?”

Janet was the director of the marketing team who Stiles hadn’t had more than a couple words with when Allison first introduced him. Stiles didn’t even have time to fist pump the air for getting to take lead on a project because Janet replied without hesitation. “Derek will be,” she said shortly. 

Derek’s head shot up then, and met Stiles’ eyes. Stiles couldn’t read whatever was there, as Derek’s expression was still mostly blank. But Stiles felt squirmish under the intense gaze. 

Janet had started packing up her things and turned back to Derek. “Let’s have a quick chat on how to get this off the ground and then you can get started,” she said. Derek nodded and followed her out of the room. Stiles waited, still a little stunned, as everyone left. 

“Stiles,” Brenda said. He shook himself out of it. “Good job.”

Stiles thanked her as she left the room and he let himself sit proudly at the big table alone for a little bit. He’d been waiting for a moment like this, and he hadn’t even realized it. A chance to prove himself in his role. It was great skating by, but he was happy to be doing a bit more than just being adequate. He hadn’t realized he’d been wanting some validation, and the feeling was very welcome. However, it wasn’t too long-lived as the dread started to seep in at the idea of spending hours working with Derek. 

He texted Allison hoping she didn’t have lunch plans yet. She replied quickly, taking up his offer to go to the nearby Thai restaurant. 

They sat down at a small table and Stiles immediately crumpled. He’d spent the walk over filling Allison in on the details of the meeting and she’d nodded along thoughtfully, and then congratulated him. 

When she noticed he didn’t seem very enthusiastic, she asked him what was wrong. 

“How am I supposed to work with Derek?” he asked as Allison took up the menu. He wasn’t ready to tell Allison about his horrible unrequited crush, but he wasn’t sure how else to explain his hesitation. “I still feel like he hates me.” Which wasn’t completely true. Derek wasn’t quite as cold to him as he had been when they’d first met, but things were still a little awkward. And they’d barely had a few words between them. How on earth were they supposed to work on this whole project together? How was Stiles supposed to act professionally when he constantly felt like jumping out of his skin just being near the guy. 

“I think this is a good thing,” Allison said. Stiles’ head shot back up. He’d expected Allison to commiserate with him, be sympathetic at least. “What? Look, Derek is actually really nice when you get to know him. I don’t like many people but I like both of you so that has to mean you’re both pretty decent. I don’t know how you got off on such a bad start, but now might be when you get to fix that.”

Stiles wrinkled his nose at her. “It’s impossible. I just keep embarrassing myself in front of him, and always say the dumbest things, and keep literally running into him. Like honestly, I would probably hate me too if I was him. It’s like the universe has it out for me. How are we going to work together when he can barely say two words to me and I just ramble on saying idiotic things?” Stiles said, arms flailing. 

Allison watched him carefully and Stiles hoped he hadn’t shown his hand. But in the end she just rolled her eyes at him. “You’re so dramatic.” And things sort of fell back into a natural conversation as Allison congratulated him again on getting to take lead on the project. He let the compliments fall on him and tried to push any other thoughts out of his mind. 

~*~

Later that afternoon, he got a calendar invite from Derek for later in the week to work on their project in one of the meeting rooms. Stiles’ stomach twisted into knots at the thought and he pressed the palms of his hands into his eyes. Luckily he trapped the groan trying to escape his throat, remembering Derek was probably just on the other side of the cubicle wall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Would love to know if you are enjoying it so far <3


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